Lili Singer inside one of the greenhouses at the Theodore Payne Foundation, where she is Special Projects Coordinator. Singer also teaches regular Thursday garden classes at the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden. Click on the image to be taken to the Theodore Payne Foundation. Photo: Emily Green / Chance of Rain

That pillar of Southern Californian horticulture Lili Singer will be among the experts taking part in “garden chats” at the Los Angeles Garden Show in Arcadia over the next three days. Singer will be talking about the single most important choice that a homeowner makes when planting a garden: the selection of trees.

Also among the workshop presenters focussing on dry gardening will be Bob Perry, author of Landscape Plants for California Gardens. His emphasis will be on establishing a cohesive garden palette. Los Angeles County Arboretum horticulturist Jill Morganelli will lead discussion of how to care for low-water gardens and Reginald Durant of the Orange County restoration non-profit Back to Natives will be talking about back yards as habitat.

The Perry talk is tomorrow, Friday, April 30 at 1pm, Morganelli appears Sunday, May 2 at 11am, followed by Singer at 1pm and Durant at 3pm. Click here for all the presenters and timetable. For a full listing of dry gardening events across Southern California for May, click here.